Race Car - Side Head Protection...
Discussion
Hi All..
I am in the throws of pulling together my first season of racing this year and will be doing so in a Caterham.
I will be investing in a HANS / equiv device for head and neck protection, but was wondering if anyone had experience of building lateral head protection into a Caterham, given that HANS is not brilliant in this regard.
So, I was looking at whether anyone had installed a seat with the wraparound head support, or had built this kind of support themselves?
Thanks in advance
Steve
I am in the throws of pulling together my first season of racing this year and will be doing so in a Caterham.
I will be investing in a HANS / equiv device for head and neck protection, but was wondering if anyone had experience of building lateral head protection into a Caterham, given that HANS is not brilliant in this regard.
So, I was looking at whether anyone had installed a seat with the wraparound head support, or had built this kind of support themselves?
Thanks in advance
Steve
I doubt that such a head rest on its own is of any higher safety, more likely the opposite
http://www.circletrack.com/safety/ctrp_0303_safety...
Cheers Volker
http://www.circletrack.com/safety/ctrp_0303_safety...
Cheers Volker
At Autosport I had an interesting chat about HANS and head restraint with the guy from Simpson.
The advice was to not use any lateral head restraint that wasn't part of the seat itself, the idea being that if you are involved in an impact you want the head restraint to move with the seat while limiting the deflection of the head.
I don't know whether it would be an issue in a 7 in reality, but you wouldn't want the structure of the car to deform in such a way as the head restraint induces a shear force actually increasing the risk of injury.
The advice was to not use any lateral head restraint that wasn't part of the seat itself, the idea being that if you are involved in an impact you want the head restraint to move with the seat while limiting the deflection of the head.
I don't know whether it would be an issue in a 7 in reality, but you wouldn't want the structure of the car to deform in such a way as the head restraint induces a shear force actually increasing the risk of injury.
Jeez - that's pricey, but as the saying goes, what price the alternative?
Powderpuff - agreed with your/ Mr Simpsons views re wanting to move as one. The main fear I would have is, in a major lateral impact, either the seat moving far enough to cause issues, or moving far enough inside the seat (not a huge amount of shoulder support in the Tillett from what I can remember - however, I don't have the car yet, so practical experience is a little thin on the ground.
I'm wondering if the device above could be mounted on to the back of the tillett headrest. I'm also a little surprised that, for the amount of 7 and 7 type race cars there are around, that a more common solution is not available, even from Tillett themselves...
On a similar note, what are people's experience of HANS, alternatives to HANS and HANS helmets at the lower end of the price range?
Thanks again all....
Steve
Powderpuff - agreed with your/ Mr Simpsons views re wanting to move as one. The main fear I would have is, in a major lateral impact, either the seat moving far enough to cause issues, or moving far enough inside the seat (not a huge amount of shoulder support in the Tillett from what I can remember - however, I don't have the car yet, so practical experience is a little thin on the ground.
I'm wondering if the device above could be mounted on to the back of the tillett headrest. I'm also a little surprised that, for the amount of 7 and 7 type race cars there are around, that a more common solution is not available, even from Tillett themselves...
On a similar note, what are people's experience of HANS, alternatives to HANS and HANS helmets at the lower end of the price range?
Thanks again all....
Steve
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